Having obtained news of Mash's exact location, Chaldea's group immediately began their next move. Ritsuka Fujimaru and Da Vinci-chan officially entered Edinburgh.
This city was quite strange by Fairy Britain's standards. Even in Camelot, humans were under Morgan's rule—meaning their status was lower than fairies. Outside Camelot, humans were nothing more than slaves or livestock.
But Edinburgh was different. Under Cnoc na Riabh's rule, humans and fairies were completely equal. The Northern Queen used her Fairy Territory's power to distribute her strength among her subordinates, enforcing detailed and high-intensity control over the city and the north. Many of her policies could be transmitted and executed without distortion.
In a sense, this was one reason why Edinburgh could coexist with the powerful Camelot without conflict—but not the core reason. Even Oberon, who had secretly investigated for a long time, didn't know the truth: Cnoc na Riabh and Morgan had a secret pact. They had long since exchanged the truths of Fairy Britain, whether it was about the corpse of the Horned God Cernunnos in the Great Hollow or the final fate of this world. The two shared their knowledge.
After learning these things, Cnoc na Riabh immediately set conditions for Morgan: she wanted enough places for herself and her most trusted fairies to escape this world, and Morgan agreed. This wasn't Morgan overstepping; before leaving Fairy Calendar, Aoko had already revealed everything to Artoria, who could provide enough escape spots—but required Cnoc na Riabh to guarantee absolute loyalty among those fairies and have sufficient restraint over them.
From this point, history diverged. The Cnoc na Riabh of this timeline didn't share all her magical power, intellect, or miracles with her people, but retained at least half, allowing her absolute control and preventing rebellion. Although northern fairies hadn't committed sins like other clans, their nature was no different from southern fairies—some good, some bad—so a purge was needed to exclude those prone to lawlessness before accepting them.
As a Great Mother-class fairy, Cnoc na Riabh naturally retained her Fairy Eyes. In the original timeline, she lost them because she had given away all her power, allowing traitors to infiltrate the coronation, spread rumors, and shake the army's morale, leading to revolt. For Cnoc na Riabh, unlike other Great Mother-class fairies, her survival depended on everyone's loyalty; once the empowered fairies stopped being loyal, their thoughts would turn poisonous and kill her.
Now, however, Cnoc na Riabh retained half her power and, warned by Morgan, kept her Fairy Eyes intact. She had already begun purging unstable elements from her subordinates years ago. Still, she could only keep her core team pure; there were simply too many fairies and humans in Edinburgh for her to control everyone, and there were still many fairies whose thoughts were chaotic and who could be incited to violence.
"You all may leave," Cnoc na Riabh said arrogantly to Chaldea's group and Oberon. "You from Pan-Human History, and that so-called Fairy King from who-knows-where—what I want, I'll take myself. I do not need to ally with you!"
"But Queen Morgan is really strong! Her fairy knights are also strong—you can't beat her head-on!" Ritsuka Fujimaru argued. "If we could join forces with the Fang Clan in Gloucester who resent Morgan, and the Earth Clan in Norwich, we could defeat Camelot!"
"Hahahahaha!" Cnoc na Riabh laughed uproariously, even the strange heart-shaped object behind her shaking. "Are you kidding me?"
Everyone present immediately felt a powerful pressure; Fujimaru even collapsed under the strain, falling to the ground like a duck.
"I already told you, what I want, I'll take myself," Cnoc na Riabh said, crossing her legs on the throne as she withdrew her magical pressure. "Having seen my power, do you think I'd lose to Morgan?"
Fujimaru seemed to want to argue further, but Oberon and Da Vinci-chan quickly stopped her, so she could only bow and take her leave. Cnoc na Riabh did not try to stop them.
But in truth, as soon as Chaldea's group left the palace, Cnoc na Riabh dropped her haughty attitude and fell into thoughtful silence, then took out the secret mirror Morgan had given her and reported what had just happened.
--- Section Break ---
"Ah, I didn't expect Cnoc na Riabh to be like that," Ritsuka Fujimaru sighed. "I thought a queen who treated humans and fairies equally would agree to form an alliance with us against Morgan."
"In a sense, Cnoc na Riabh hasn't contradicted the rumors," Da Vinci-chan mused. "It seems that because she's so strong, other fairies and humans are all equally weak in her eyes. That's why she's like this. Right, Oberon?"
"Oh?" Oberon seemed to come back to himself. "You make sense, but I think we still have a chance."
"Even in a place like Edinburgh?" Fujimaru asked in surprise.
"That's right," Oberon nodded with a smile. "I've been active in Edinburgh for a while, and during this time I found quite a few fairies who are dissatisfied with both Morgan and Cnoc na Riabh."
"I see," said Da Vinci-chan. "So, the opposition's opposition—an enemy's enemy is our friend?"
"Exactly!" Oberon snapped his fingers confidently. "My insider in Edinburgh has already begun contacting these discontented fairies. If we can take them with us and coordinate with the Fang Clan in Manchester, we can overthrow Fairy Knight Gawain's rule there, and weaken Morgan's power!"